The Unusual Life of Lorraine Ashley  Mercedes
by missandieec
Summary: Lorraine Mercedes, or Ashley as she is preferred to be called just found out she is a half blood. Sent on an unusual quest, with Percy, Nico and Annabeth. In the end something unexpected happens. Adventure, romance and friendship.
1. Bowling

The Unusual Life of Lorraine ASHLEY Mercedes.

Since when does bowling explode people?

The night I found out they came for me. You would think I'd get a heads up or a little signal or something. See, I kinda figured it out after I read this stupid book on hints about how you might be a half blood. I NEVER SHOULD HAVE PICKED UP THAT BOOK. It made sense, I was never still, I couldn't read anything and of course my father had left when I was a kid.  
After all the clues fit together like puzzle pieces, I decided to double and triple check. It also probably explained why I didn't feel safe this year and I was just on my annual vacation. I had also seen things lurking in the shadows and being the ´brave´ person I am went into serious SHOCK mode. Then I hoped and prayed to the gods that I was the daughter of a non Olympic god. The goddess of grass there was a goddess of that right?  
Considering the fact that I was something unheard of was stupid. In the end I followed my cousins into the bowling alley, hoping to sidetrack the thought for a while. I realized that there was tip in the book, pretend you didn´t know and maybe they wouldn´t come for you. Oh gods please let me be the daughter of the goddess of grass. Besides it's not that easy to live an easy, carefree life when evil monster things are going to come after you. I hardly knew anything of Greek Mythology, so I was royally screwed.  
Trembling, I picked up the bowling ball and threw it on the lane, it made a huge sound. I frowned, strike. I never got spares; it was kind of annoying actually. For once I would like to get an imperfect score. Whatever right. I turned to face my cousins; they stared at me awestruck that I had gotten a perfect strike on the first throw. I shrugged; I had been getting perfect strikes since the first day I bowled. Even if I threw them towards the gutter, they curved back hitting all ten pins and knocking them down. I stuck my tongue out at the pins and sat down on a chair.

A sweet faced blond boy stared at me, I scowled. I just wanted to go home; to my precious New York City lights. I shouldn't have been so rude to him, I thought reluctantly turning again. He was gone, where could he have hidden? Something touched my shoulder I turned around.

"May I help you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes, you must join the cause." He nodded seriously, as if I knew exactly what the cause was.

"Well, I don't know what the cause is, so I don't think I can help you." My eyes lingered towards his, he had the most beautiful eyes ever. I shook the thought out of my head, knowing I didn't have a chance, since he was in another continent. Wait, but he was speaking English.

I looked up cautiously hoping he was still there, to my disappointment he wasn't. Aw well, there was always tomorrow. Lies… I threw the ball towards the pins, and turned without checking the score, I knew I got a strike. I headed towards the bathroom, with an unusually large lump in my throat. I threw open the door, it locked behind me.

I spun around, my hair hitting my face violently. "Th-that door's not supposed to lock," I managed stumbling over my words. "O-only the stalls." I added shaking.

"JOIN!" Something behind me hissed. It wasn't the boy, but some ugly looking creature. When something with wings and reptile skin is telling you to join something, you shouldn't exactly do it. I ran towards the exit trying to unlock the door. This was a fight or flight situation, and though I was choosing flight I would have to stay and fight. Damn.

Channeling my inner Karate Kid, I ran at the monster ready to punch it in the face. I got two steps to close and smelled its horrible breath, it was making me dizzy. Dizzy to the point where I felt myself fainting. I held on to the stall doors to balance myself. I took the toilet paper and threw it as hard as I could towards the creatures face.

It wasn't the greatest idea, but at least it was distracting. I tried getting the door unlocked and kicked off the lock. "Awesome….wait I can't fucking get out." I screamed at the top of my lungs. I heard someone try to open the door, actually it sounded like someone was trying to break down the door.

"Take the sword." I heard an exasperated voice shout at me.

"What sword." I retorted, scared that a sword would hit me in the face. I heard something slide under the door, well there was the sword. I thought about throwing it and then realized that the toilet paper wasn't as distracting as I thought. It grabbed me by my feet and prepared to claw my throat or heart out. I remembered the sword and stabbed it in the eye. It crumbled under me, leaving a horrible smell. Ew.

Proud of myself I headed towards the door, only to have my hopes broken by the knob-less door. "Help" I shouted pounding at the door.

"Stand back!" a voice replied and I walked back a safe distance. I heard the door explode open and the debris hit me forcefully, throwing me on the ground. I felt around for the sword and found it successfully after cutting myself on door pieces.

"Get up, we're leaving." Someone said, pulling me from my arm harshly.

"Where are we going, to the hotel?" I asked confused and dazed. I just wanted to go back to the hotel and watch The Simpsons until I fell asleep.

"Nope, home. New York City." I opened my eyes and saw an unusually tall brunette dragging me by the arm.

"But, I don't have tickets or my passport." I said upset at the pain inflicted on my arm.

"Yeah, well I'll take care of that." She said dragging me to a car where my mom was waiting.

"You don't talk much do you?" Disregarding my comment she turned to my mom,.

"Tiffany, Lorraine needs to leave now." Oh so this was keep secrets from Lorraine day.

"Why are we leaving so suddenly?" I asked tears already streaming down my eyes, afraid I might have done something wrong.

"Your father…" My mother began and then stopped at the airport.

"We're flying." Mystery girl said motioning to the airplane. "May Lord Zeus protect us, and your father."

"Huh? My father? " I didn't have time to ask anything else, because I was ushered onto an airplane and twelve hours later, I was home.

I find out my Dad's pretty hot

"So where are we going now, Sam?" I asked my protector as she opened the door of a red convertible.

"We're not going anywhere. You're going to get to know your dad. I'll meet you at camp." Sam responded throwing me sunscreen.

"What camp?" I asked before she closed the door. As usual I wasn't being answered and I had sunscreen in my lap even though it was only 5:25 am. I waited for my 'dad' to get in the car. Instead a really attractive blond teenager sat in the driver's seat. I began hyperventilating

"I-I must be in the wrong c-car." I gulped halfway through, not being able to finish my sentence.

"No, stay." He said sweetly and alluring.

"Uhm," I looked into his eyes, bad idea. I was sure I was going to pass out now.

"Wait," He said touching my arm, "Close your eyes. Now open them, that's better right?" I opened them and saw an older person standing in front of me. He was still attractive, but at least now I would only turn a slight pink, instead of flushing deep red. I breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"You must be Lorraine, my daughter." I nodded still not being able to find my words.

"I prefer Ashley, my middle name. Everyone uses it. Can I ask why you left?" I asked my voice cracking. I hoped he didn't see my face; I wasn't the most attractive person when I cried.

He stroked a tear of my cheek; I noticed his hands were really cold. "I had to, you're a demigod. I didn't want to ruin your life."

"You already did. You don't know what it's like to live without a father for 13 years."

"I'm sorry, but now let's drop you off at camp." I realized that behind us, it was light, but in front of us it was still dark morning.

"You're Apollo, right?" I asked, astounded.

"Did you think I was my annoying sister Artemis, or Hermes?" My father laughed to himself, even at age 27 he still looked good. "Here we go." 'Dad' motioned pointing to a place where teens were training.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked scared, as I prepared to jump out towards camp.

"Depends…" He answered with no sign of emotion in his voice, and then smiled. "Here," he said handing me a bow and some arrows."As you have probably learned, missing is highly unlikely." He winked.

"If I ever do see you again; by some miracle, you'll let me drive right?" I asked tears already forming in my eyes, I wasn't sure if they were of joy from finding my father or from pain.

"Yeah, okay. Sure. " He replied sarcastically.

"What happened to the fun teenager?" I asked tauntingly.

"I still need to be your father, now jump. " I scowled and jumped. Deep down I had a feeling I would see that red BMW again. I hoped I would see the Beemer again. I had lived thirteen years of my life, not knowing who my father was, and now that my presence was acknowledged it made it hard to let go.


	2. Lucky

I get lucky before I die.

The parachute wasn't working. Why wasn't it working? I debated whether to begin to scream at such a high altitude or drift toward the trees, which would hopefully break my fall. I began swinging back and forth in a lame attempt to head toward the tall pine. It looked very hurtful and fierce as I began to sink into it the pines and branches cutting my face.

The pain didn't register as quickly, and I was grateful for it. Unfortunately for me, the tree didn't exactly break my fall and I kept falling down until I managed to grip onto a not-so-stable branch. I breathed deeply and felt my heart beat faster, I heard a crack. _No, no NO. _ The branch broke with an audible snap and I shut my eyes.

The ground didn't hurt as much as I thought it would; the ground was actually pretty unleveled. Perhaps it was the shock of falling five thousand miles. I opened my eyes and expected to see my arms detached, bleeding or in severe pain. None of this was true, I began to move and realized that the floor was rather uncomfortable. "No," someone whispered. I looked around and before I had time to register that this boy caught me he put me down abruptly, confusing me.

"Wh-what?" I stammered as I re-adjusted the clothing that had been ripped or moved during my graceful trip down.

"You fell; from the sky." He smirked pointing at the pine tree that still stood strong. I got a good look at him he had dark, black hair that needed to be cut soon and deep blue- green eyes that reminded me of the ocean.

"Who are you?" I asked, ready to fight him with my bare hands if necessary. I took two steps back automatically as he approached with his hands raised, radiating peace. I rummaged around my half ripped backpack for the bow my father gave me. "What's your name?" I asked cautiously, certain my knuckles were paling.

"My name is Percy Jackson, and I am Poseidon's son. I can tell you're a half-blood. You seem lost." I flinched in reaction to his honesty. He shouldn't have given himself away like that, besides for all he knew I could have been a mortal. However, I still held on tightly to the bow. "I'm Lorraine, but don't use my first name. I prefer my middle name, Ashley, or Ash for short. I'm the daughter of Apollo. Take me to your leader." I joked.

I guess it was time to start trusting others, especially ones who didn't seem half-bad. We began walking back to Camp Half-Blood and got started talking on the most random things. Why pine trees weren't as soft as maple ones and we got into a heated debate about whether swords were better than arrows. I stubbornly refused to change my mind, swords were much more difficult and heavier to carry. He rolled his eyes.

When camp was in sight, my steps quickened and I tripped on branch. Lucky for me, Percy had caught me before I could hit the ground and ruin my first impression. "Thanks." I muttered, my face and cheeks aflame with embarrassment, but someone else thought otherwise.

"What do you think you're doing?" A shrill voice addressed us and before I could decide who she was talking to, she marched over and ripped my arm away from Percy's grasp.

"Annabeth, it's not what you think." Percy began in fear, I looked at him quizzically. Why was he in fear of this Annabeth? She had a pretty face and I really liked her name, but I didn't like the way she was glaring at me right now. I was pretty sure that her eyes could probably burn through my skin and the gray color was warning me to run. My hands automatically searched for the bow, and when I found it I sighed.

Again she mistook my expression. "Oh, so I'm annoying you." She began circling me, looking like a tiger on the prowl.

"N-no. Not really. Percy was just helping me get to camp. He rescued me from a pine tree." That didn't seem to soften her up, however Percy was fighting a grin. I realized he was scared of losing her, they must be dating. Uh oh. "Are you two dating?" I asked softly.

"That doesn't matter. What's your name?" She half-screamed into my ear, tracing my neck with her knife. Annabeth didn't cut me, but if I didn't speak fast enough I knew she would.

"Ashley; the small and meek. Daughter of Apollo." She nodded once, most likely analyzing the many ways she could kill me. I saw my way out and began to retreat away from her rampage. "I'll be leaving now." I began trying to walk back into the woods, ready to take a long detour towards what seemed like the cabins.

"Are you chicken?" She screeched. "HUH A CHICKEN!" I looked back with a wild look in my eyes.

"Nobody calls me a chicken." I said steely and glared into her stormy eyes. She raised her knife, most likely expecting me to have a sword or knife as well. I prepared my bow and prayed to my father that this would go well. She charged at me, I aimed for my target and closed my eyes.

"What are you doing?" Percy screamed, ready to fight alongside his girlfriend. The arrow hit my target and I smiled.

"That's done with." I said walking towards the cabins. Three faces of shock stared back at me. I looked into the eyes of the boy at the far end, he was breathtaking. Before I could get my hopes up, I turned and marched back toward the cabin of my father, ready to meet my siblings. I did a looked back briefly. "Bullseye."


	3. Swimming

I'm thrown to die and saved by an unlikely hero

My suitcases were propped up against the door completely unscratched with a post it note on one. I snatched it up, hoping I wasn't going to get hazed. 'Meet us at the Big House,' now what was that supposed to mean? I turned and asked where it was. The girl whose name turned out to be Clarisse pointed me in the right direction and asked if I was new. I nodded and she smirked. I frowned; I guess Clarisse didn't like new campers.

After my quick shower, I made my way to the Big House after throwing my suitcases into what seemed to be the right cabin. Pushing the door open, I found a half- man, half-horse and a very annoyed man who wore a tiger print polo. The centaur introduced himself as Chiron and the man as Mr.D. He reminded me of, Dionysus the god of wine, considering that I was in a camp for demigods I was going to assume that he was.

"Hello Jenine" Mr. D said clearly bored.

"It's um Lorraine and you can call me by my middle name, Ashley." He ignored me and continued.

"Anyways, Amanda welcome to Camp Half-Blood, where we train you to protect yourself in the outside world from every monster and person that wants to kill you." My eyes widen and I nodded mindlessly. "Well, that's done with. Chiron will show you to your room."

"Wait, will I be safe here? Do I need to stay here forever?" I began. He rolled his eyes, " Yes, and fortunately no." I smiled, he was pretty funny.

"Are you Dionysus the god of wine?" I asked, hoping I hadn't offended him.

"Yes." He didn't look impressed that I had recognized him at all, in fact he looked even more bored than before.

"Does that make you like my uncle?" Mr.D narrowed his eyes and dismissed me. I laughed silently and then followed Chiron to my cabin. "I know where it is. I threw my suitcases in there already."

He raised his eyebrows, "Are you sure you put them in the right room?"

"Yeah, the one with the green and blue and the ocean stuff. I mean it was leaning up against the door. Wait." I realized my mistake. I threw them into the Poseidon cabin. "Oh gods." I could already hear Annabeth and her rant as to why Percy had woman's clothing laying in his cabin floor.

"Hey guys, great to see you. I'll just take that." I grabbed my suitcases and my strewn clothing and _gulp _ underwear and stuffed it in my backpack. "So, I'll go now." I said, practically running to hide behind Chiron out of embarrassment and fear.

"Annabeth, she didn't know." Chiron began helpfully. I don't think he was capable of digesting me tonight, although Annabeth looked like she could. I backed up slowly, hoping that Chiron would keep Annabeth from strangling me in my sleep.

"Well, at least we know I wasn't lying." Percy started.

"Doesn't matter, I think it was pretty obvious which cabin was hers."

"Not really…" I cut in wishing I hadn't. Time to do something I'm not going to be proud of "Wait, I thought two people couldn't be alone in a cabin." That was my shovel and I dug myself halfway out. Percy's face paled, while Annabeth turned red, unfortunately with rage.

"I'll deal with you two later," Chiron said stiffly, with a hint of amusement in his voice as he took my arm and led me out of the room. He pointed to the cabin opposite Percy's. I nodded in agreement and he trotted off back to the Big House. I turned the knob and walked into a bunch of shirtless guys.

"What the-?" I asked my face flushing; they looked equally confused. "I'm supposed to be in this cabin, I mean my father's Apollo." My voice was shaking I noted unhappily.

"Yeah we're his sons. You don't look like the others." A light haired boy spoke up, and was nudged by the one standing next to him.

"I've noticed. Aren't there any girls here?" I asked hoping that they would be on a shopping trip or something and that they would return soon.

"They all 'graduated'."

"Well, I always wanted five brothers." I grinned and sat down on a spare bed. "I guess we're going to have bathroom time and toilet seat problems, huh?" They laughed, but then one got an evil grin and instantly they knew.

"Well, I think we induce you into our club of awesomness. The name is Troy." He held out his hand.

"Huh-" Just like that I was lifted off the ground and swung over his shoulder. "Put me down!" I screamed, pounding on his back.

"Soon." He promised and began marching me down towards the lake. I really hoped the lake was shallow because well I couldn't swim.

"Put her down." Percy said slightly demanding. The boy next to him looked ready to attack and I wasn't sure if he wanted to attack me or my 'brothers' and Annabeth couldn't have looked happier.

"Alright." I guess Percy had more authority, no I was wrong. They threw me into deep, cold water, crap. Naturally, I started kicking and sputtering in the water.

"I can't swim!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I saw Percy's friend jump in without bothering to take off his shoes and swim over to me. I noticed the water was making it easy for me to survive, must be Percy. His friend pulled me out and set me down on the ground. leaning over me he wiped the wet hair from my face and began to ask me questions.

I didn't bother to answer him, I just kept holding on to him. _Are you okay?_" I heard a voice ask me and I noticed it was coming from the blond boy I met in the bowling alley. No one else seemed to acknowledge him, and I wasn't sure why. I turned back to my hero and realized that I didn't want him to let go, but he did and called over Percy. Really? PERCY.

Percy asked me questions and since he wasn't that distracting I answered them. He helped me get up and then told Chiron that I would be sleeping in his cabin. That didn't seem to please Annabeth at all. His friend, whose name turned out to be Nico took my suitcases and put them in the Poseidon cabin.

Nico handed me a towel and told me I should take a shower. I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, but instead of taking one, I sat on the cold tiles and cried.


	4. Friendship

Friendship is a beautiful thing, yeah not for Annabeth.

I woke up in a bed, wondering if I was home. I turned back around when I saw Percy leaning over me. "Good morning to you too." He responded sarcastically, I held back a smile.

"I feel like lake." I said, feeling the uncomfortable rocks under my clothing. He rolled his eyes in response. "Since we're roommates," I began taking the pillow and hitting him with it "I can do this." I continued to hit him and he grabbed a pillow too. I fake cried to make him feel bad; it worked and he lost. It was the perfect medicine from last night.

"I miss my mom. I've never been away from her this long." I said choking on my words. He patted my head, "it will be alright."

"You should have been my brother." I said looking up to him and smiling.

Ten minutes later I felt clean and significantly happier. I towel whipped him and told him to leave the seat down. He fake punched me back and closed the door. Grabbing my diary, I began scribbling down everything that happened. I saw armor on the chair, and realized it was for me.

As I struggled to put it on, Percy laughed, but eventually helped me with it. He put his on without any trouble.

"Better make sure my lips are protected too."

"Going to go kiss Annabeth?" I said tauntingly.

"I have something better." I raised my eyebrows and he leaned in. Percy brought his hand to his lips and rubbed on some chapstick. "You so want me! You were leaning in!"

"Yeah okay. Let's go big hero." we walked down to the lake where capture the flag was going to start. I was put on Annabeth's team; Chiron must have wanted me to live. At least now I knew that she couldn't kill me; well without an excuse.

"Does she even know how to fight?" Someone piped up from behind Annabeth. I shook my head, "Maybe I shouldn't be doing anything that important today. I mean I only know how to dance."

"Dancing should be enough, and you're already suited up. We won't let you waste this opportunity." Annabeth flashed me a million dollar smile.  
"Alright, let's hope I live." I said twirling my sword in my hand. Hopefully a year of fencing had prepared me for Camp Half-Blood's capture the flag. It couldn't be that hard, it was just a game. No one could get killed, the armor and weapons were probably just for show.

About two minutes into the game, I realized that when Mr.D told me I would learn how to survive here, he was serious. Arrows were flying, swords were clanging together and some people were even fighting with bare fists. This was not your average capture the flag, it was demigod capture the flag, which meant anything goes. I ducked under a flying arrow. How was dance supposed to help, did Annabeth expect me to break out into Fame and start singing?

I decided to go crawl behind a tree and inspect the cuts that were now most likely infected. I looked at my hand, and grimaced at all the dirt on my open wounds, but they didn't look infected at all. I shrugged it off, infections came later anyway.

Grabbing my sword I began to reproach the friendly competition. Just then something white caught my eye; it was the flag just standing there. It wasn't going to move and I didn't see anyone in sight. I ran to the flag, but before I could pick it up, someone grabbed my arm.

"Ouuch." The person's iron grip was going to leave a bruise in the morning, especially if Percy couldn't heal it. I flinched when I looked up and saw who was holding my arm in such a ferocious way. "N-nico?" I stammered, clearly hurt emotionally as well.

"Capture the flag's not that easy here." Nico said harshly, avoiding my gaze. I didn't know if he hated me for the whole Annabeth scene, but how this was going it was obvious he didn't like me.

"I've noticed," deciding whether to run and tell Percy where the flag was or stay and fight. I remembered what Mr.D said at my 'orientation', monsters would try to kill me outside of camp and most of the times Percy wasn't going to be there with me. "But its Nico…" a voice in the back of my head said softly. "I'm sorry," I said cutting his skin and running to get the flag.

"Annabeth's team wins." Annnabeth looked shocked to see that a newcomer had won. I nodded to her and passed her the flag. I walked as fast as I could away from the forest and towards the Poseidon cabin to rot there.


	5. Nico

Nico

"Hey," Percy came in without knocking. I needed to invest in a doorbell or else one day he was going to walk into me changing. I ignored him and continued to bandage my arm. "What's that?" he asked slowly catching my hand and unraveling the bandage.

"Nico did it, during capture the flag."I said barely meeting his eyes, already tempted to cry.

"Why would Nico…" Percy's voice trailed off, he was hiding something. Three knocks on the door, disrupted my silent mourning. "I'll get it." I got up from the bed, holding my left arm in an effort to see who was at the door; it was Annabeth.

"Why are you spending so much time with her?" She inquired, without even issuing either one of us a proper hello. Percy shrugged, and held the door in effort to hide me from her evil wrath.

"Hi Annabeth," I waved boldly to the girl, tired of her bullshit I marched right up to her. "What is your problem?" I asked innocently. She ignored me, and continued to talk to Percy, so I seized the knife hanging by her side on her waist.

"I'm not afraid to fight you with my bare hands." She turned glaring at me. I dropped the knife. "I'm going to walk around," I said to no one in particular.

I found my way toward the lake where I almost drowned, and where surprisingly Nico sat. "Can I sit with you?" I asked cautiously. He barely looked up at me, and forgetting about his anger I sat down next to him. "Do you hate me?" I asked softly, picking up a flat rock to skip on the water.

"Hate you? Why would you ever think that?" He asked, scared for the answer.

"You get mad at me a lot and hardly ever speak to me sometimes." I said throwing the rock at the water.

"I don't hate you, I'm just afraid to lose you."

"W-what?" I asked turning back to face him, his face was aflame and I sat down next to him again.

"My sister died, and I never thought I'd ever really be happy. Then you came along and made me feel exuberantly happy," he ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm practically an orphan as well. My mother died and my father is Hades. No matter how much of a hero I am, I'll never be as welcome as Percy or Annabeth. At first, it seemed like a great accomplishment, later I realized they were just faking to spare my feelings. If I allow myself to care for you, you will just let me down." I was in tears and I barely noticed until he wiped them away. "Don't cry Ashley."

"Nico, but I won't let you down. Who cares what they think? Percy and Annabeth like you," I paused. "I like you Nico, I really do. I don't want you to hate me. I want you to be happy, I want to see your smile. You're the son of Hades and I'm the only daughter of Apollo. We're exact opposites, and opposites attract. Annabeth hates me and Percy, well he's very nice, but he's no you."

Carefully I leaned into him. Sighing his lips brushed the top of my hair. "Thank gods you exist. Please don't let me down." I looked up at him and without his permission I kissed his pink lips. "I'll be right back, I need to get something from my cabin." I nodded and turned back to the lake, feeling much better.

I heard the gravel behind me crunch, and whipped around thinking it was Nico. Instead I found Percy, upset looking at the lake. "What's wrong Perce?" I asked him softly, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Annabeth told me to give her some 'time'. She said that if we wanted to continue to be as happy as we were before I'd have to forget you. Of course, I told her no, so she walked off without another word."

"Percy, my gosh. I'm so sorry." I said giving him a hug, and then pulling away quickly.

"Thanks, here look I made you something. It's a friendship necklace; I have a bracelet." I took it and noticed that the string was actually strengthened, seaweed and that the center was actually half a sand dollar.

"Where's the other half." He pointed to his wrist and showed the same strengthened seaweed and half dollar. "Annabeth would hate you. Maybe I should go talk to her, and clarify some things."

"You are the best FRIEND EVER." He picked me up and spun me. Percy actually did smell like salt water. I was an only child my entire life, and now I had a 'brother.'

I heard the crunch of gravel, yet again behind us. Percy put me down abruptly and cleared his throat. Ready to give Annabeth a girl talk, I found Nico face down looking at the gravel.

"Nico!" I bursted, preparing to run to him.

"Annabeth was right, you're a social climber and you'll date anyone who is important. You don't like me at all; you just want a son of the Big Three." I shook my head, but he continued. " I can't believe I ever liked you, and even though you don't really like me I wish you had chosen me, but hey, guess the son of Hades is always going to be beat out by the son of Poseidon. Great necklace he gave you, guess it's nothing compared to this." He threw something at my feet.

"Goodbye Ashley and Thanks a LOT Percy." He turned and walked toward his cabin. I picked up the sketch he drew of me, I looked much more beautiful than I actually was. On the side of the paper it said:

_ How I Nico DiAngelo see the princess. _

"Nico, NICO!"I pushed through campers, as I tried to run after him. "NICO!" I gave up and collapsed on the floor in the middle of the camp. Who cared? It was just the daughter of Apollo, the meanest, worst friend, whore ever to live.


	6. Surprise

**Surprise**

I threw my handball at the wall for the umpteenth time. It was becoming routine for me to eat, train, and sleep. I wasn't doing much anymore, and it saddened me. I enjoyed being happy, but unfortunately, I could no longer achieve that extreme happiness. Was this all really my fault? I had no feelings for Percy, whatsoever. He was very brotherly and I liked his company. If I even dared thinking of Percy in that way, Annabeth would find out, and Annabeth would slice my neck open.

I heard the door slowly creak open.

"Don't bother Perce. You know I'm not mad at you." I said, not taking my eyes off the wall. "I'm actually mad at myself." I turned over in my bunk and rummaged through my duffel for my trusty diary. I didn't bring much, beside necessities, and my diary was very important to me. I flipped through the dates and began reading from the point I started camp. It was obvious; the first day spoke of my unfortunate incident, the week or so after that about my friendship with Percy and the hate Annabeth had for me, and the last few days focused on my remorse over the loss of Nico.

"Don't be so sad. I mean he'll come to his senses." I rolled my eyes at his lame attempt to make me feel better. "I think I see him. Look, let me talk to him." He suggested, and before I could respond, called Nico over to the threshold of our cabin.

Nico looked out of place with his disheveled clothing, messy hair and scowl; he wouldn't meet my gaze. He looked beautiful to me._ Mi principe. _I said softly to myself, before moving to stand close enough to hear the encounter between the two.

"Nico, you idiot. Don't you see she's in pain? She cries herself to sleep almost every night and you don't even have the heart to come in here and talk about it? You were easier to get along before."

"I don't have to go soothe your _second_ girlfriend Percy, besides she doesn't want me. She clearly wanted you the other day." I felt my eyes glazing over, and tried to find an excuse to go into the bathroom again, since I had just walked out.

"Please Nico. You know she doesn't like me, and you know if she did Annabeth would have killed her by now."

"Please Nico?" I asked softly. I attempted to look him in the eyes. "If you actually liked me as much as you said you did, you would talk to me….right?" That seemed to break his ice façade and reluctantly he walked with his head down into the cabin, and sat down on one of the empty beds.

"What?" he asked harshly, sending my heart back into its original shattered state.

"I want you to know that I don't like Percy. I never have and I don't think I ever will. Since the day I met you, I've always liked you. Percy is like a brother. You mean more to me than anyone ever has, and I know you've been through a lot…but you have to trust me. " He nodded, and took my hand.

"I guess I forgive you."

"T-thank you." I stammered, barely making out the words. I leaned in for my long awaited kiss.

"Guys, the Oracle. She spoke. Us. Even Ashley." She was agitated and before we could make out what she said, she began to pull us all toward the Big House. When we got there, a girl with red hair, who introduced herself as Rachel began talking casually.

"Who's this?" She asked, nodding at me smiling sweetly.

"I'm Ashley, daughter of Apollo."

"Cool. Let's get started then." Everyone tensed up, and I was yet to find out why.


	7. Off to the Races

I have to say I really hated their scared, uncomfortable faces; they were usually happier. Rachel spoke as if she was in a distant world; she began reciting:

Two in spirit and five in flesh

Will travel far west

One will sacrifice himself to the sun

And the other will not rest until the task is done

The hero will be different from last

All the answers lie in your past

The prophecy ended, and grimness covered the faces of my companions.

"That does it then. Let's go get ready," Annabeth said, calmly even though she was shaking a bit. Nervous I looked around frantically for an answer.

"I'm sorry guys, I know you probably want a vacation." Rachel said, genuinely upset.

"Hey, it's not your fault. We just always end up picking the short stick of the bunch." Percy turned to Annabeth and Nico. 'We'll meet you at the enterance in ten minutes. Pack only neccesities,it might be a long trip." Percy and I walked back to our cabins in silence. I was dying to scream for an answer, but that wouldn't help. So instead I took a different approach.

"Hey Perce, what do I pack? Where exactly are we going?" I took a ratty old backpack from under my bed and began stuffing it with a weeks worth of clothing, and any food or water I could find in my suitcase.

"That's too much clothing," he began. I was thrown to mysterious packages, which were according to Percy, very important. "Nectar and Ambrosia. You'll never know when it will be handy. Ashley don't forget to pack the rest of your clothing back into the suitcase, it's going to be sent to your mom. You'll get the stuff when you get back home." He mumbled something inaudible under his breath. It sounded a lot like, ' if you get back home.'

Soon we were ready to leave on our quest. I fought the urge to go back, cry in my bed and wait for the summer to end. The arrows on my back hung in fear, but ready to attack if needed. We met Nico and Annabeth at the enterance of camp, "Our best bet is to walk down to New York City and then see if we can grab a train west. It's unusual they're making us go there, the Empire State Building is in New York."

"What does the Empire State Building have to do with our quest." I asked Annabeth, curious as to what was in store for us.

"Everything." She turned to face all of us, "The reason the prophecy is sending us west is probably to reach the Underworld and there's an enterance in New York, right?" Annabeth continued, making it clear she had asked a rhetorical question." The two in spirit are probably Luke, and Bianca." Unreadable faces flashed over both Percy and Nico's faces; Nico impulsively reached for my arm and pulled me closer.

"Are we really going to walk all the way to the city?" I asked. Annabeth shot me a glance, and I was sorry I had opened my mouth.

"Well," she began. "We can't trust everyone and we can't endanger innocent lives, so yes we're going to walk all the way to the city. Got a problem with that Sunshine?" I recoiled by her harshness, and soon her face melted a bit," Sorry Ashley, I know I'm being harsh. However, I've been through this before. I know the dangers and the losses we can face and I'm not going to go through that again. I'm not going to endanger anyone else."

Annabeth pulled a compass out of her pocket and waited until it stabalized itself. "New York City is South," Percy said reading over her shoulder. "We need to go that way," he said pointing in the general direction.

I piped up, "Why don't we just find the highway and walk along that? It might be difficult, but it's better than ending up having to cross the Hudson. Although that probably won't be a problem." I said rolling my eyes.

"Not a bad idea, but sometimes the highway is difficult to walk around." Annabeth reminded me. "We can try, and if it doesn't work at least we'll have a general idea of where to go. However, for now lets try with the compass. It will eventually lead us to the highway if the city is South." Annabeth gave me a small smile of friendship before taking a deep breath and leading us towards the city.

After walking along the highway for an hour, our feet were beginning to get tired. Nico, who was usually expression less, looked completely exhausted. "Why don't we take a taxi?" Percy asked. It seemed as though Nico and I came to the same logical conclusion; Annabeth stared him down completely condescending.

"You don't think it would be weird if four teenagers showed up in the middle of the highway, flagged a taxi down, and asked for a ride into the city?" Nico asked.

"Wouldn't hurt to try," and before we could change his mind he flagged down a taxi. The driver looked confused and shocked that we were casually waiting as he pulled over. Percy climbed in the front, "New York City please. The driver mumbled something to himself in his native language and then began to drive to the city. Occasionally he looked back and I knew he was wondering to himself why teenage children carried swords, arrows, shields, and stuffed back packs each.

Somewhere along the ride, I fell asleep. I remembered biting my lip hard to keep myself from crying. I missed my mom so much, and it gave my heart pain to think that I wouldn't get to say goodbye. Would I die? Would anyone in this car die? I looked up into Nico's face which seemed calm, but his eyes were clearly displayed hurt and fear. The traffic jam was slowing down traffic and I let my eyes slowly close.

I woke up and we were still a half hour away. Apparently the Yankees were playing and God forbid anyone miss the game. Suddenly Percy spotted something out of the rearview mirror, his eyes widened. .Suddenly Percy decided to change our destination to Flushing Meadows Park and when the driver dropped us off he got out cautiously.

"How did they find us?" Annabeth asked in awe. Nico looked down at the cell phone in my pocket which I had slept on. He checked the calls, "you accidently called three people." Annabeth looked sullen, "No use crying over spilled milk."

"She's right." Percy said calmly. "Turn it off and make sure you don't call anyone, that's how they track us. Now draw your arrows, we're going to fight.


	8. Newfound Strength

A bird like creature stood in front of us, half of her and was extremely beautiful. She opened her mouth and an unresistable voice spoke, "I am Parthenope, and these are my two sisters Ligea, and Leucosia," she motioned to the women which flanked her. Immediately something came over Nico and Percy, however, Annabeth and I remained the same. I looked over and saw her teeth clenched tightly, as Parthenope kept speaking, "You are not going to help stop the resistance, you will die here." Her sweet voice made it difficult to take her seriously.

What seemed to be Ligea opened her mouth and began singing." Crap, I thought they only bothered sailors." I remained confused and as they kept singing my vision began to cloud over. The scene changed to a calm beach where my mother, Nico and my newfound friends lounged. I was happy as I scribbled mindlessly in my journal. It seemed like a fantasy, almost unreal. 'It was unreal,' I thought to myself as I tried to see through the picture. "Sirens" I hissed and did my best to block out their sound.

'When sirens sing they lure you with their sweet songs of beauty to kill you,' this thought haunted me because now I had to come up with a plan to save my friends. Even though my vision was clouded, I generally remembered the location of my iPod which had headphones; headphones that could block out noise. I placed them in my ears shakily and resulted in blocking out half the noise. It was enough to see as if a thin, dark field was covering my vision. Seeing like this allowed me to find my iPod and turn it on at a volume loud enough to block out their sound.

Now I could see clearly, despite the dazed look on my companion's eyes. The admiration on Nico's face made me wonder what he was dreaming of. Unlike most of the time, he looked at peace, blissful almost. I returned my vision back to my enemies which were going to starve them, my Nico, my 'brother' Percy, and my newfound friend Annabeth. I took out my arrows and readied the bow to shoot. I tried to run behind them to shoot them clearly, but in his daze Percy knocked my headphones out of my iPod. "Crap," I said aloud and searched frantically for it like I lost my contacts.

Finally I grabbed it and replaced them it in my ears; I looked around at my surroundings. The sun was rising and I felt newfound hunger eating away at my stomach; hunger that was probably eating away the stomach of Nico as well. They laid motionless on the floor, as if they were sleeping."Dad, help." I whisper-prayed silently. "Please," as I shot my first arrow into the back of Leucosia's head. The others turned around and began attacking me with their sound and then I heard something horrible. Silence, my iPod had run out of battery.

I cursed silently and before my vision would glaze over, I took Percy's sword. I didn't have much practice with a sword, much less blindfolded. I imagined I looked somewhat unintelligent. I swung it frantically and succeeded in striking another in what seemed like her stomach. One left and my legs were fighting to buckle under me.

"Gods!" I screamed and tried my best to search for the left over siren, but it was too late. Her music had already taken over and put me in my dream world. Familiar faces clouded my vision and lightened my battle mood. Immediately tears began to pour out of my eyes, I was useless. I couldn't even save my friends.

"Please don't hate me guys. I'm sorry. Dad, please. I don't want to die useless; at least let me save them." I still felt Percy's celestial bronze sword in my right hand and did my best to pick it up. It was heavy and it took all my strength. I didn't have any will power and felt myself sweating. "It must have been at least a full twenty four hours since we encountered the sirens and we hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. I swung the sword in a full circle and then let go of it. I smelled something foul, and then found that I could see clearly what was in front of me. Not a dream anymore, but reality.

I took in a large breath of air and almost choked on it. As tired as I was, I managed to walk to the rock where I had dropped my stuff. I opened it and drank the whole bottle of water before crawling with my backpack over to my worn out, unconscious friends. I looked at Percy's paled out face and cringed. "Perce, can you hear me?" I asked hopefully. He moaned his response and then I made my way to Annabeth and Nico who had both fallen, their knuckles white from clutching their weapons.

I loosened the grip on their weapons and did my best to regain their consciousness. When they were all weakly leaning against a tree, I handed them water, crackers, nectar and some ambrosia. I figured they would know the appropriate dose of the last two better than I would.

"What happened?" Annabeth groaned, holding her head as if she had just suffered from a massive headache.

"Sirens," Nico said with an exasperated sigh.

"Don't they only attack soldiers?" Percy asked genuinely confused. "What were they doing out here?"

"I don't know," Annabeth responded and I could tell she hated not knowing.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. "This is my entire fault. If I hadn't slept on that stupid cell phone," I was cut off halfway through by Annabeth.

"No," she said firmly. "If it wasn't for you we would already be in the Underworld awaiting our sentences. You saved our lives." Her face hardened. "We should be sorry. We were lifelessly laying there while you saved our hides. Thanks Ashley." She gave me an unexpected one armed hug before Nico came to hold my waist.

"We should start walking then," Nico suggested. "If we want to get to Olympus before it gets dark. Though it was summer, the sun was beginning to set." I walked proudly towards the lighter sky.


	9. Mormo

After what seemed to be hours of walking, we reached the city. I felt right at home.

"Do you think I could go visit my mother?" I asked the others. The question was meant for Percy, however. I felt that he would be the most sympathetic. He and Annabeth exchanged looks, holding a silent conversation.

"It should be fine..." I felt my eyes growing wetter with the excitement of seeing my mother again. I could barely muster out a 'thank you'. "Where do you live Ashley?"

"We live on 768 5th Avenue. It's the most amazing home, and I guarantee that you guys will be surprised." Something on Annabeth's face told me that she was either confused or trying to remember something. "Anyway, we can take the N or R train there. That's how I used to get home from school."

"There's a 1 train there." Nico said, speaking for the first time since the fight with the sirens. I nodded, trying to calculate the transfer we would have to make..

"We can take the 1 to 42nd st – Times Square and transfer to an uptown train. Do any of you have a metro card?" Percy being a fellow New Yorker took out his wallet and waved the yellow card proudly.

"Represent!" Percy joked. He held up a peace sign to his chest and I did the same playing along. I looked at Annabeth. She was trying hard not to be jealous, but I could tell she was uncomfortable. Percy could sense it too. "How about I swipe in for me and my favorite girl, and you can swipe for you and your man." He said all of this in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent which made me double over in laughter, Nico chuckle and Annabeth smirk.

"Deal, homes." I was happy he had broken the ice. After getting into the station, I felt terrible. My mind was screaming that something would go terribly wrong, and my body was sweating. I felt adrenaline surge through my body without reason.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked. She seemed genuinely concerned.

"I have a hunch. Something bad is going to happen." I looked at her stormy gray eyes. "I think a monster is near, Annabeth." She nodded.

"You see that woman over there," she motioned her head to a frizzy haired woman who was wearing a long black skirt and a blue turtle neck. I nodded, and stepped in closer. "She's been looking at us and I'm starting to think she isn't human. Keep hold of your weapon and warn Nico. I'll tell Percy." Before we could tell either, the train came. We stepped on, and sure enough the woman followed.

"Nico?"

"Mm-?" He answered not bothering to use proper English.

"I have to tell you something...Come here." He walked over to where I was seated and leaned toward me. "Annabeth and I think that woman isn't human. That she's a monster."

"I think I would be able to tell if-"

He was cut off by the awful screech that came from the woman's mouth. "I am Mormo..." She hissed her words out slowly. "I will not let you reach Olympus." In a few minutes she had turned into a terrifying creature with fangs that surpassed Dracula's. Mormo was definitely a terrible sight.

"Like hell you're not." I screamed back impulsively. I was tired of fighting and I wanted to see my mother. I was going to get rid of this monster as fast as possible.

"You are a bad child Ashley. I must bite bad children." Ignoring her words, I withdrew my bow and arrow. In a stupid rage I began firing arrows at the woman. To my surprise, they did no harm. She pulled every single arrow out without losing breath.

"Ashley! No Greek weapon can kill Mormo!" I took Annabeth's advice and began kicking and punching the monster. Again, it seemed to do no harm to her. Why was no one helping me? Why were Percy, Annabeth and Nico far behind me.

"Why aren't you helping me?" I said throwing a punch to the monster's stomach.

"I told you there's nothing we can do!" Annabeth screamed back. "And it seems like you're the only one who can throw punches and avoid getting bit at the same time." Those were stupid excuses. The train pulled out of 57rd Street.

"Our stop is next!" I yelled. I didn't bother to turn to see their expressions. I had a plan. If no Greek weapon could truly kill Mormo, than an American weapon surely could. I turned back to the ugly vampire like monster. "I'm leaving now." I walked backwards to the open door so that I could see her. As I expected she followed.

"You try to rid yourself of me, Ashley? You will have to do a much better job." She was so close to me that I could smell her ancient breath. I saw the doors of the R train close and saw as it began to pull out of 59th Street. In a quick move, I threw Mormo under the rails.

"Bite that!" I screamed, causing buisnessmen and women stop and turn. When the train had completely left all that was left of the Mormo was a burnt sand and an awful smell. I turned to look at my friends. Annabeth had an angry countenance, Percy a shocked one and Nico was smiling.

"What's wrong Annabeth?" I asked in a sing song voice.

"Why didn't I think of that? What's wrong with me?" She looked upset at herself, which to me was worse than her being mad at me.

"It's okay Annabeth. You're probably just having an off day. Come on, we're almost home. _I'm _almost home." I had defeated two monsters and now I got to see my mother. Things seemed to be looking up for me.


End file.
